This is related to your council adopting any working definition of Islamophobia or Antisemitism. Please note – there are several different definitions of both antisemitism and Islamophobia in use around the country – and this FOI request covers all of them.
1. Did your Council adopt a working definition of antisemitism? If so, which one and when?
Devon County Council has an Equality Policy, which covers all kinds of unacceptable behaviour; including racist language and the use of anti-Semitic language. We also have an Acceptable Behaviour Policy for employees, Appendix 1 of which, includes a definition of anti-Semitism drawn from the IHRA definition, but simplified for Plain English purposes – extract below:
Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and harassment on basis of religion/belief
As above, negative stereotyping, bullying behaviour, nasty jokes, telling someone they are not welcome here and avoidance on the basis of religion/belief are unacceptable, as they are for other protected characteristics listed in this section. Hate speech attacks, threatens, or insults a person, group or their property on the basis of their identity or perceived identity. Like all forms of hate speech anti-Semitism (relating to Jews) or Islamophobia (relating to Muslims), are offensive and unacceptable. Contemporary examples of anti-Semitism can include:
• Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing, removal or harming of Jews.
• Making false, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews.
• Denying the genocide of the Jewish people during World War II (the Holocaust).
• Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
• Holding Jews collectively or individually responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
This policy was published in October 2018.
2. Did your your Council adopt a working definition of Islamophobia? If so, which one and when?
We have not adopted a working definition of Islamophobia but have described it as follows as part of our Acceptable Behaviour policy:
Islamophobia is the fear of, or prejudice towards, Islam and Muslims of any race and whilst always having been a problem, it has spiked in recent years due to the rise in extremist groups who hide behind an extreme concept of Islam which is not supported by the wider Islamic societies. It is therefore offensive to stereotype “Muslims as terrorists”.